Sunders 2 Hardy
by Beatlesfan90
Summary: When a shooting at school interups the day, the Hardy Boys team up with long-time friend Charlie to slove the case. Please R
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own either of the Hardy Boys or related characters from the Hardy Boys books.

**A/N: **This is the first Hardy Boys story I have done on my own! I would really love it for you to let me know what you think! Please R&R.

**Chapter One**

Sitting in class one day, only half paying attention to what the teacher was going on about, I found myself thinking about the most random things, when my best friend Reed interrupted my thoughts.

"Are you even paying attention?" He poked my side.

"Huh? What? Oh. Sorry." I looked up at him.

"Yeah sure." He laughed, "But you may not want to say that to me." He pointed up at the teacher who was red in the face and staring at the two of us talking.

"Sorry, Mrs. Kingston. I'm listening now." And just as I said that, the lights went out sending the whole room into darkness. "What the---?" I thought aloud.

"Don't panic! The lights will come back on soon." I heard the teacher say from the front of the classroom.

"Reed?" I called his name into the darkness.

"I'm right here." I could feel his hand reach out for mine and we held hands until the backup generator booted up and the emergency lights came on. "I wonder what that was all about."

"I don't know but I intend to find out."

Reed knew right were my mind went. I am always solving cases with the Hardys. Everyone knows who the Hardy Boys are, but what they _don't_ know is that they are some of my best friends. I have known both Frank and Joe for years now. We have gone to school together for as long as I can remember. They helped me to find my mother's shooter. My mother was shot on duty as a police officer. Ever since that day I have been working with them on any cases I can.

"Charlie," Reed looked at me. "I wouldn't. Not at school."

"Why not?" I looked up at him.

"Charlie, they are not going to let you look into it and you know it." He said.

"Who said I was going to---" But gunshots interrupted me.

"Get down!" Mrs. Kingston yelled at us as she went to lock the classroom door. We all did what we were told and got under our desks.

"Reed?" I looked to my best friend. He reached out and grabbed my hand. I could hear some of the other girls crying. Some of the guys were trying to get the girls to calm down.

"It's okay. We're safe in here." I heard the guy, Eric, on the other side of me telling his girlfriend Angie.

I turned around to look at them. "He's right. Right now I don't think anyone could get through that door with how much stuff is in front of it." I said as our teacher added more chairs to the pile she had in front of the door.

"Charlie we're not all you." She said to me with tears in her eyes. "We don't find this as a normal thing. Ya know?"

"It will all be okay." I forced a smile at her. "Really. Those gunshots were not anywhere near here."

"Are you sure?" I heard Mrs. Kingston ask from behind me. I turned to look at her.

"Yeah they are most likely down stairs in the courtyard." I informed the class.

"That's on the other side of the school." Reed looked at me. "Could we hear them this clearly from that far away?"

"If the gun is big enough." I knew it was the wrong thing to say the minute I said it. The girls in the small classroom started whimpering again at my statement. "Sorry."

Another round of shoots rang out in the air only this time they sounded much closer.

"We're going to die! Aren't we?" I heard one of the girls say.

"Don't say that. Never say die! I won't let that happen." I told the whole class hoping to make myself believe it too. Reed, still holding my hand, slid over to give me a hug and we held that potion as yet another round was heard.

"Aren't they out of ammo yet?" Reed looked down at me.

"I have no clue. They could have four or five clips full for all I know." I answered gravely, then added. "Or more. The cops should be here soon though." Just as I said that we could hear the sirens of the police cars growing steadily louder. "See right on time."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

They had gotten us all out of the school. Five students were shot but alive. Reed's little brother Andrew was one of the injured. He was transported from the school to the hospital with Reed and me following close behind. When he was out of surgery, the doctor came to find us.

"How is he?" Reed asked when he saw the doctor walking our way.

"He's resting. He was very lucky. No major damage. You can both go see him now. But like I said, he's asleep and I would like to keep him that way until he wants to wake up." They doctor showed us to the room where Andrew lay sleeping in the bed.

"He's okay." I said looking into Reeds eyes.

"He's okay." Reed echoed and brought me into a tight hug. We stood outside his room for a few minutes just watching him sleep. I could see the tears swelling up in Reed's eyes.

"Reed? Charlie?" We turned at the sound of our names to see the boys' parents walking towards us.

"He's okay!" Reed told them as his mother brought him into a tight hug.

"Oh thank God!" She cried. She then turned to me, "Where is that father of yours?" She gave me a big hug as well.

"At work." I told her gravely. My father and I didn't have the best relationship in the world. He was always working. Being a lawyer was a big time consumer and I guess since I was gone at school or with Reed or on another case he just didn't really ever know where I was. He also had a very short temper. The smallest thing could set him off.

"Did you even call him, Dear?" Mr. Ashford looked down at me.

"Um. Well. No, I was going to but then we came here and—"

"Charlotte Ann Sunders." I turned around to find my father's steaming face at the end of the hall.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" I walked toward him to avoid yelling across the hallway.

"The Ashford's called me and told me you were here. Why would you not call me? Hmm? There's a shooting at your school and you don't even call me to tell me you're alright."

"Like you care. I get shot at all the time with the cases I work on and you have never worried about it then. Why should you care now?" I was not in a mood to argue with him and he knew it.

"I _do_ care whenever you get shot at."

"Then act like it next time." I turned to go back to where Reed was still standing, watching the fight, but before I could take a step dad spoke.

"You're right."

"What?" I looked at him again.

"You are right. You're my daughter I should care more. But you are too much like your mother and I thought that maybe if I acted like I did care then I wouldn't." He hung his head looking at the floor, ashamed.

"What?" I didn't know how to respond to that.

"I'm sorry!" He looked back up at me. I could see in his eyes that he meant what he said. "I'll see you back at home." With that, he turned around and walked away. I was left stunned in the middle of the hall watching him go. _What just happened?_

"You okay?" Reed's voice came from behind me.

"I think so." I looked back at him. His big blue eyes staring into mine made my heart melt. He always knew just what to do to make my knees weak.

"Okay. Come on, Andy's waking up." He took my hand and we walked back to the younger Ashford's room. We stopped outside of it and looked in at the scene unfolding inside.

"Mom, I'm fine!" Andrew smiled up at his mother fussing over his pillows behind his head.

"Okay… Okay…" She ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead. "We'll be back later. Let you talk to your brother."

"Thanks, Mom." He said still smiling up at her from the bed. She kissed his forehead once more and grabbed her husband's hand and walked out the door smiling at us as she did.

"Hey Andy, how you feeling?" Reed walked up to his brother's bed.

"Not too good. But I'm alive."

"You are alive. And I'm so glad!" I walked in and gave him a gentle hug.

"You guys are okay too." He wrapped his arms around me. "Do you know who it was?"

"No! Did you see who it was?" I leaned away from him.

"I saw him but I have no clue who he is. He looked way too old to go to high school."

"Could you describe him?" I asked as my mind went straight into detective mode.

"Uh yeah… I think." He tried to sit up and I saw the pain in his eyes as he did so.

"No!" Both Reed and I tried to get him to lie back down.

"I'm going to let you rest first okay?" I said as I backed out of the room.

"Well, would you look who's here?" I heard as soon as I stepped out of the room. Joe Hardy. I turned to see him and Frank walking down the hall.

"Well, of course _Charlie's _here." Frank told his brother, as he gave me a one armed hug.

"Hey guys." I looked at them.

"Wait, is that Reed's little brother in there?" Joe asked me looking in the room Reed and Andrew were talking in.

"Yeah. He got hurt today during the shooting." I told them gravely.

"Is he okay?" I knew Frank well enough to know he was thinking about how he would feel if it were Joe laying there in that bed.

"Yeah, just a little sore." I looked up at him. "Hey Reed, looks who's here."

"Oh, hey guys." Reed said walking out the door.

"How's Andrew?" Frank asked him.

"He's really lucky." Reed told him as they shook hands, like they always did.

"Do you two know who the shooter was?" I asked the Hardy brothers.

"Not a clue." Joe frowned. "Did Andrew get a good look at him?"

"Yeah. I was going to question him tomorrow when he has gotten a little more rest." I informed them.

"Oh good. So are you taking this case?" Frank asked me.

"Yeah but I could use any help I can get." I smiled at him.

"It would be our pleasure." Frank said as he mocked a bow.

"Oh stop it." I playfully pushed him. "Are you helping or not?"

"Of course." Joe laughed at us.

"Great, then I will meet you two here at 9:30 tomorrow morning?"

"Yep." Joe smirked. And then they turned to leave.

"Wait, why were you two here in the first place?" I asked the back of their heads.

"We heard there we some kids form the school here and we wanted to make sure they were okay. See if any of them saw the guy." Frank answered. "But you have that covered now don't you?"

"I _do_ have it covered! See you two in the morning." I waved as they walked out the door at the end of the hall. I turned back to Reed who was smiling at me. "What?"

"You like Frank don't you?" He said still smiling.

"Me? Like Frank? What?" I hit his shoulder, "He's like a brother to me. Just like you are."

"Uh huh." Still smiling he walked back into his brother's room leaving me looking down the hall and to the door the Hardy's had just gone through.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

I got home around 8:30 that night. Dad was in his office.

"Hey Dad, I'm home." I opened his door and peered in.

"Okay." He was reading something on his computer. I decided to leave him to whatever he was doing and closed the door behind me, walking up to my room to get on my own computer. When it started up I had an e-mail waiting for me from Frank.

_Hey, _

_It's Frank, but I guess you knew that. I just wanted to know how Andrew was doing. I hope he's okay. I guess I will see you in the morning. Uh, Good night!_

I wrote back:

_Hey,_

_He's doing okay. Still pretty sore but better. I can't wait to start getting this guy who shot up our school. Thanks for the help by the way. I am really going to need it. So yeah I will see you in the morning._

I sent it and was reading a few other e-mails when I got a reply from Frank:

_Well, that's good to hear. How are you doing? How's Reed? _

I wrote back again:

_I'm fine, and Reed's just Reed. He's staying at the hospital tonight with Andrew. I'm so glad Andrew's okay. We have to find this guy! We will find him won't we?_

He replied:

_Sure. No problem._

A few more emails back and forth and then I got one last reply from Frank Hardy:

_Well I am getting off now. I guess Joe wants on the computer. I'll see you in the morning?_

Me:

_Oh okay. Well, good night. Tell Joe I'll see him in the morning. _

I turned the computer off and went to read for a bit before bed.

* * *

The next morning, I walked to Andrew's hospital room. Reed was still sleeping on the chair next to Andy's bed.

"Shhh." Andrew smiled at me when I walked in. "He didn't sleep very well last night." He was eating the breakfast the nurse had brought him.

"Why not?" I asked him as I looked to his older brother.

"Who knows? He was just up all night." Andrew took another bite of his eggs.

"Well, I was just coming to see how you were doing and I'm meeting the boys here." I looked at him, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm doing okay. Still pretty beat up, but okay." He said looking to me.

"So…" I sat in another chair next to his bed and pulled out a notebook and pen out of my bag. "Do you think you are up to a few questions?"

"Uh… sure." He finished his breakfast and called for the nurse to come in and grab the tray. After she had left the room he turned back to me and smiled. "Okay, so questions?"

"Yeah. Okay…" I looked to my notebook, "So did you get a good look at the guy?"

"Yeah I did."

"Okay, so what did he look like? Was he tall? Short? Dark? Facial hair? Bald? Anything at all?"

"He was around my height, white, uh dark hair, no facial hair that I remember. When I saw the gun I ran as fast as I could the other way."

"I don't blame you." I looked back up at him from my notebook. "Anything else? How old would you say he looked?"

"Maybe 30-ish. I'm not really good with guessing peoples ages." He looked up from me and smiled. I turned around to find Joe and Frank smiling in at us.

"Oh, hey guys!" I said to them and smiled back.

"Hey, how's it going?" Frank came in and gave me a hug.

"Not too bad. Andrew got a pretty good look at the suspect, but the guys sounds like every other white 30 year old white man." I half laughed up at them from my seat.

"Well, that can't be good." Joe said to me, then added, "We can't go chasing every guy fitting that description." He grinned.

"No, we can't. I just hope we have a few other people who saw the guy." I turned back to Andrew, "Do you know where the others are in the hospital? What rooms they're in?"

"Uh… I think they're all down this hallway." He told the three of us, "Talk to the nurse. I'm sure she could tell you."

"Okay thanks, Andrew. Get some rest!" I leaned down and kissed his forehead, "Tell Reed I was here?"

"Yeah. Find the guy for me?" He smiled.

"Of course." I said as Joe, Frank, and I walked out the door. Once we were out of the room I looked at the two brothers, "So should we talk to the others now?"

"Yeah, let's do it." Frank smiled at me.

"Okay, lets go find that nurse Andrew was telling us about."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four **

"Well, I think that's everybody." I looked up to Frank and Joe after leaving the room of the last whiteness.

"And they all gave the same description of the guy. What are we going to do now?" Joe looked disappointedly at us.

"Well, we could go see if there are any security cameras at the school, see if they caught a glimpse of the guy." I suggested.

"Do you think the school would give us the videos if there was?" Frank looked down at me.

"Oh yeah." I sighed, "They probably wouldn't, huh?"

"Nope, I don't think so." Joe sighed as well.

"Well, then what do we do?" I looked up at the boys.

"Let's go back to the school and look around the courtyard." Frank said as he turned to walk down the hall. Joe and I followed and soon we were getting into our cars and heading off to the school to do a little more looking around. I took my car while Frank and Joe took their van. We met in the school parking lot.

"You ready for this?" I asked as Frank held my car door open for me.

"Sure are." Joe smiled. The three of us walked side-by-side down to the courtyard where the shooting had happened the previous day. We looked around for a few minutes taking in everything.

"Find anything yet?" I asked the boys.

"Just a few holes in the walls. But other then that, nothing." Joe turned to me. "You?"

"Not much at all. The guy ran off? How did he get away that fast?" I looked to the back of the courtyard towards to the football fields. "Do you think he went behind the football field?"

"It's possible." Frank said also looking the same place. "We should check it out."

"Okay. Well, why don't you and I go and Joe can stay here to look around more." Joe nodded and Frank and I were off. We walk over to the field and to the woods right behind it. "Look! Footprints!"

"Footprints?"

"Yeah." We knelt down to take closer look. "Here, let me draw a picture of it in my notebook. Maybe we can get something out of it"

"Good idea." Frank smiled at me.

"Look okay?" I asked him after I was done.

He examined the sketch. "Perfect. Let's keep going into the woods. Maybe there will be more footprints." He helped me to my feet and we continued on. We walked for a few minutes in silence and then Frank spoke, "So, why do you think this guy came to our school?"

"I have no clue." I looked up at him, "Do you think he chose our school on purpose?"

"Well, what other school has Joe, me _and_ you attending it?"

"You know, I never even thought of that." I stopped walking. "What if he was after one of us? Or all of us? Do you think that could happen?" I looked up at him again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He walked over to me and brought me into a hug. "Look, we'll get this guy. I know we will."

"Maybe we should go check on Joe? Now that you say that, I don't think I like leaving either of you alone." I started back and he followed right behind. When we came out of the woods and onto the football field, we could see Joe talking to a girl I recognized from his grade. "Hey, Joe. It's Catie, right?" I asked the girl when we caught up with them.

"Yep. Hi, Charlie. Frank. How goes the investigation?" Catie smiled at us.

"Not too bad, but also not too good." I told her and then turned to Joe. "We found a shoe print in the woods over there. Here take a look." I pulled out my notebook and flipped to the right page.

"Were there any more?" Joe said still studying the drawing.

"Not that I saw. This one was in wet mud and the rest of the ground seemed pretty dry." Frank informed his younger brother. Joe nodded and then turned back to Catie.

"Well, I think we are going now, so I'll see you around?" He asked her.

"Yep. See ya'll around." She waved and skipped off.

"What was she doing here?" I asked Joe as we all watched Catie get in her car and pull out of the parking lot.

"I have no clue." Joe admitted.

"Right well, did you find anything else around here?" Frank turned our attentions back to the case.

"Not really. Just the same old holes and casings." Joe sighed.

"Okay well, what do we do now?" I turned to the brothers.

"Tell Joe what we thought of to make us turn around when we did." Frank suggested.

"Oh yeah." I looked to Joe.

"What do you mean?" He looked from me to his big brother.

"We were thinking that maybe this wasn't just a random shooting. Maybe he picked our school for a reason." Frank started.

"Okay, but what would be his reasons?"

"I can think of three reasons standing right here." I looked from one brother to the other.

"You don't think he was after us do you?" Joe asked and we both nodded.

"Anything is possible." I shrugged.

"Well, do we want to go back to our place and look up this show on the internet?" Frank turned to me.

"Or do we want to head to my place? We can have the cook make some lunch for us and I will have faster internet there too." I said as we started toward our cars.

"Sure, sounds good. Joe?" Frank looked to his younger brother.

"Uh yeah." Joe smiled at me and opened the door to my car for me.

"Okay, follow me there?" I looked up at them from my seat.

"Yep, see you there." Frank said as Joe closed my door and we left the school.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Here we are." Janet, our cook, said as she placed our lunches in front of us.

"Thanks, Janet." I replied, digging into my egg salad sandwich.

"Yeah, thanks." Frank and Joe smiled up at her.

"No problem. Let me know if you need anything else." She said before slipping back into the kitchen.

"So… what should we do after we look up the shoe?" I turned back to the boys and took another bite of the sandwich.

"We could always go back and check on Andrew and Reed if you want to." Frank said also taking a bite of his own.

"Sounds good to me. Joe?" I looked to the younger Hardy. His mouth was full. He shrugged. "I'm going to take that as a yes?" He nodded.

"So where is your computer?" Frank asked me when we were all finished with our lunches and Janet had cleaned up our plates.

"This way." I showed them the way to my room.

"This is your room?" Joe asked. "This is bigger then our living room."

"Oh, yeah I guess it is kinda big, huh?" I looked around my room. "Well, here's the computer." I sat at my desk and the two boys gathered around me.

"Okay, so what kind of site do we go to?" Joe said leaning over my shoulder looking at the screen.

"Shoe stores?" I asked Frank.

"I guess." He answered back. I typed a few words around in the URL box till one finally worked. "There look at that one." He pointed out.

"Hmm, yeah that does kinda look like it huh?" I smiled at him from my seat. "Okay so cross trainers."

"Who by?" Joe asked me still reading over my shoulder.

"I don't know, it doesn't say." Frank and I looked to each other.

"That's odd." Joe stepped back and went to sit on my bed. "Maybe that's not them."

"But it has to be." I was feeling like this case was over before it even began. "We have to find something on this guy. He is already too far ahead of us."

"Don't worry, Charlie. We _will_ find him. It just may take a little longer then we'd like." Frank put a comforting arm around me.

"I know I know. I just feel like he has already outsmarted us. I mean he knew we would talk to the kids that saw him and they would give us an ordinary description. And now he gives us a footprint but nothing to match it to." I sighed in defeat. I turned away from the computer and looked at both brothers. "What are we going to do?"

"We will figure something out." Frank told me. "Trust me." We both stood up and walked over to my bed to sit beside Joe.

"So what do we want to do now?" Joe asked us.

"Well, did we want to go back to see how Andrew and Reed were?" Frank looked to me.

"Uh sure. Sounds good to me." I nodded.

"Me too." Joe chimed in. We walked out the house and over to our cars.

"Hey, do you guys just want to ride with me?" I opened the door to my '69 mustang.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Joe said jumping into the back seat of the car. Frank got in the front seat. "Could you put the top down?"

"Uh sure, if that's okay with your brother that is." I told Joe.

"Frank?" Joe looked to his big brother. "Please?"

"Yeah, I guess that's okay." Frank smiled at me and I hit the button.

"This is the life." Joe sat back in his seat, enjoying the sunshine out of the open roof.

"Whatever you say, Joe." I laughed and pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, heading for the hospital. We drove in silence for a few minutes. "I hope Andrew's feeling better."

"Yeah, me too. And Reed too, he looked pretty out of it before." Frank agreed.

"Yeah." I stopped at a red light waiting for it to change back to green. "Anyone for some coffee?" I spotted a _Starbucks_ as I drove through at the next light.

"Sure." Joe said, "But we don't drink coffee."

I laughed. "Well they have other things besides coffee. You could get a smoothie. Or some tea." The light turned green and we took off down the road. I pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop and we all piled out of the car.

"Welcome to _Starbucks_. What can I get you?" The young girl behind the counter asked as we walked in.

"I would like a 16 oz. white chocolate mocha please." I told her and then turned to the boys. "What do you guys want?"

"Uh… what do you suggest?" Frank asked me.

"Try the strawberry smoothie. Both of you." I said and they both nodded.

"What size?" The blonde asked.

"Same as me. Thanks." I gave her the amount she asked for. We sat and talked until they called our drinks. We retrieved the beverages and headed out back to my car.

"Thanks again for the drinks. Are you sure we can't pay you back?" Frank asked once we were on the road again.

"Nope, it was my treat. Enjoy." I shook my head. We stopped once more at a red light when all of a sudden our car was bashed into the back. And the world around me went blank.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

_What is that? Where am I? _I could feel my head pounding. _What happened?_

"How is she?" I could hear Frank ask someone in the room.

"Coming along. Still hasn't woken up yet." My father's voice rang out.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Dad?" I whispered.

"Charlie. You're okay!" I opened my eyes slowly in time to see my father move from the chair beside me to leaning against the bed I was in.

"What's going on?" I slowly looked over to Frank where he stood waiting for his turn to hug me. "What happened?"

"We were hit from behind. It pushed us out into the intersection an—"

"Shh. She just woke up! Give her some time. She needs to rest without all this swirling around in her head." My father interrupted him.

"Dad I want to know." I stared at him. "What happened to the car? Is it trashed?"

"It's not good!" Frank shook his head.

"Aw man!" I sat up looking from my dad to Frank. The room started to spin around me. "Ow my head." I put my hand to my head to feel a bandage taped to it. "What happened?" I turn my attention to Frank. "We got rear-ended then what?"

"We were pushed out in the intersection. Then got t-boned on your side." He looked down at me gravely.

I thought for a minute. Then I turned back to Frank, so fast my head spun again. "Where's Joe? Is he okay? He's not hurt is he?"

"Nope!" Joe walked into the room as if answering my question. "I'm fine! It's you we've all been worried about!"

"I'm fine!" I looked from Joe to Frank to my father. None of them seemed to believe me. "What? I am."

"I would like a doctor's opinion on that." Dad said touching my head ever so lightly.

"Dad, really I'm fine." I smiled up at him with my best I'll-be-fine-if-you-leave-me-alone smile.

"I'll go find the doctor and tell her you're awake." Dad stood and walked out the room.

"Okay, now tell me. Are you really okay?" Joe came over and sat beside me on the chair.

"Yeah, how are you feeling?" Frank sat down at the edge my bed.

"I'm fine, I told you that." I said giving them the same smile I had just given my dad.

"Charlie!" Reed's voice came from the door way.

"Thank the Lord!" His mother's voice came from behind him.

"Reed. Mrs. Ashford." I said as they walked into my room. Reed gave me a hug and his mother gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"My you are quite the popular girl aren't you?" I had no idea whose voice it was talking to me, until the sea of people parted and I could see a young woman in a white coat who I could only guess was the doctor my father went to fetch.

"Oh. I guess so." I looked around at the faces all smiling at me.

"Well. I'm sorry everybody but I need a few minutes alone with my patient please." The young doctor informed them. After a chorus of 'good byes' and 'see ya laters' the room was empty but the doctor, my father, and me.

"You too." The doctor turned to my father.

"Me?" He stood staring at her in shock.

"Yes you. Good bye." She opened the door and showed him out. "There. That's better!"

I laughed at her as she took the few steps closing the gap between the two of us.

"Well, how are you feeling?"

"Um. If I move too fast I get a little dizzy. But other then that I'm feeling good enough to go home."

"Well, not today. But soon." She said as she had me follow the light with my eyes. I sighed. "I know. Hospitals suck."

"Huh? But you're a doctor. You spend all your time in hospitals." I looked at her somewhat confused.

"I know. But I spent a lot of time on the other end when I was a kid. Right where you are."

"You were in a lot of car crashes?"

"Well no! But I was sick a lot when I was a kid." She smiled at me

"Well what do you think? Can I go home now?" I almost pleaded with her.

"You are looking better. But I'm not sure I like the thought of you leaving just yet." She told me with a frown.

"Man." I sighed and leaned back against the pillows.

"I'll let you rest now. I'll send your group back in."

"Thanks." I sighed again. She left the room and the flood of people came flowing back in my room.

"Well? What did the doctor say?" Frank asked sitting back down on the edge of my bed.

"She isn't letting me go home yet."

"Well that's okay." My dad stepped forward. My friends all looked to him. I could tell just what they were thinking. _Do you know Charlie?_ I couldn't help but laugh.

"Anyways. We need to go back and tell Andy you're alright." Reed gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"Okay. Give him a hug for me." I told him and then gave Mrs. Ashford a hug before they left the room.

"We are going to let you get some rest okay?" Frank said as he walked over and hugged me before turning to his brother and exiting the room.

"Can I get you anything?" Dad asked me.

"No Dad. I'm fine. But I am a bit tired." I smiled up at him.

"Okay I will let you get some sleep. I have some work to do anyways. I'll be back in the morning." He kissed the top of my head and then escaped out the door. I closed my eyes trying to get back to sleep thinking about my wrecked car.

"Man how bad is it? I wish I could see it." I flipped to my side. "What am I going to drive now?"

"You know talking to yourself is the first sign you're insane?" A voice came from the door.

"Huh?" I flipped back over to see a young man in a white coat. "Who are you?"

"I'm Eric." The handsome young man told me.

"You're a doctor? Aren't you a little young?"

"Well I'm still in med school but they like to gives us the white coats early." He laughed.

"Right. Well I'm not insane. Just thinking about my car." I sighed.

"What happened?" He took a step closer.

"My friends and I were in a car crash. I guess my car is wrecked." I sighed again.

"What kind of car was it?"

"What does it matter?"

"My own self interest."

"65 mustang." I smiled at him.

"And it's wrecked?" He seemed just as sad as I was feeling.

"Yeah I know. We got hit from behind then on the side. I—"

"Hey I left my coat in here—" Frank walked in and stopped to look at the two of us talking. "Uh sorry to interrupt."

"No you didn't interrupt." I informed him. "This is Eric. He's a med student."

"Frank." He stuck his hand out to shake hands with the handsome newcomer.

"Eric. But I guess she told you that." He shook his hand.

"Right. Well I'll see you in the morning okay?" Frank turned to me then walked over to give me a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Yeah." I smiled up at him.

"Well, goodnight." He grabbed his coat and left the room.

"Your boyfriend?" Eric asked once Frank was gone.

"No. We're just friends. Good friends. Have been forever."

"Uh huh. Okay well I was just coming in to see if you needed anything." He smiled down at me.

"No I'm fine. But thanks." I smiled back at him.

"Okay well, I guess I will let you get some sleep." He walked over to the door and opened it. "Uh good night." He left.

"Good night." I bit my lower lip pondering what had just happened. I fell asleep just then thinking of the handsome med student.


End file.
